1 / 23

EP and BP Rhythm: Acoustic and Perceptual Evidence

This research investigates the acoustic and perceptual properties of European Portuguese (EP) and Brazilian Portuguese (BP) rhythms, focusing on how these languages can be classified based on their rhythmic characteristics. By analyzing speech signals and conducting language discrimination experiments, we aim to clarify the role of vowel reduction, syllable structure complexity, and intonation in distinguishing between stress-timed and syllable-timed languages. The findings contribute to the broader understanding of rhythmic typologies and their implications for mixed languages.

pascha
Download Presentation

EP and BP Rhythm: Acoustic and Perceptual Evidence

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. EP and BP Rhythm:Acoustic and Perceptual Evidence Sónia Frota Universidade de Lisboa Marina Vigário, Fernando Martins

  2. EP and BP in the rhythm typology • I. Correlates of rhythm in the speech signal Frota & Vigário 2001 • II. Language discrimination experiments Frota, Vigário & Martins in progress • Goals: • Better understanding of the rhythmic  EP / BP • Clarify the status of ‘mixed’ languages

  3. Background • Traditional view  isochrony (, ´  ,  ) • New approach(Dasher & Bolinger, Daues 1983, 1987, Nespor 1990) • phonological & phonetic properties • syllable structure x y • vowel reduction x y rhythmic s • intonation/stress x y • acoustic correlates reflect p-properties (Ramus et al. 1999) • syllable structure variety/complexity -  C <  C + - %V > %V + • vowel reduction -  V <  V + • Rhythmic continuum or rhythm classes?  perception

  4. EP stress-timed reduced unstressed vowel system phonetic deletion [,u] long C clusters strong contrast ´ /  intonation lingers on stress More stress-timed C >BP, %V<BP, V>BP BP syll.timed/mixed less vowel reduction (no centralisation [,]) vowel epenthesis syllable simplication weaker contrast ´ /  intonation // stress More syllable-timed C<EP, %V>EP, V<EP P-properties: predictions

  5. Materials x I. Correlates of rhythm Frota & Vigário 2001 speakers: Lisbon and S.Paulo 20s-30s

  6. Intonational phrase (I) sentence = I-phrase Why? Lapses and clashes Weight effects (Pepperkamp 1992, Nespor 1999, G&N 1999, F&V 1999) Phrasing variation due to speech rate (slower rate > more Is within a string) Sentence duration EP < BP (*2corpora) Effect on C and V(Grabe & Low 2000) Domain of rhythm

  7. Effect on variability Intervalduration x100 sentence duration standard deviation %C and  %V EP/BP Durational difference

  8. Results: EP  BP • Distinguishing role is played by %V and %C

  9. %V: EP<BP  %C: EP>BP  %V: EP>BP X vowel reduction 1: shorter Vs >  V 2.: no V  V, < %V intrinsic V duration more extreme s in BP phonological phrase lengthening in BP Variation in %V within EP Stress-timed EP/Syl.-timed BP Acoustic results and our predictions

  10. Results: EP and BP in the rhythmic chart • EP: stressed (C) and syllable-timed (%V) mixed • BP: syllable (C) and mora-timed (%V) lang. ?

  11. If so, a rhythmic continuum (Dauer 1987, Nespor 1990, Auer 1991) If not, rhythmic classes EP/BP results (more languages?) Correlation %V, C One of them is enough Conflicting classifications (At least) Both are needed Are mixed languages intermediate languages?

  12. P-properties revisited • Syllable types: syllable-timed languages • p-processes: BP • coda loss • vowel epenthesis • > Generalisation of CV • p-processes: EP • effacement of Vs • > C clusters • Signal cues • / C(C)V/ • p-processes EP BP

  13. II. Language discrimination Frota, Vigário & Martins • EP and BP allow us to test the perceptual weighting of %V and C • EP • %V plays the major role  EP  stress-timed L • C plays the major role  EP  syllable-timed L • Both are equally decisive  EP  stress-timed L EP  syllable-timed L • 2 experiments: EP/BP, Targeting 2 Languages • Test the relevance of intonation

  14. EP/BP source sentences: Rm 15-19 syllables each representative low-pass filtering 400Hz 2 conditions: with F0 without F0 (flat= mean F0) 16 pairs: 6xY=Z;10xYZ Y, Z: different speakers 29 subjects  naive Targeting 2 Languages Dutch, Spanish: RMN EP, BP: Rm 15 or 17 syllables low-pass filtering 400Hz 2 conditions Praat 20 pairs: 4xY=Z (Du/Du; Sp/Sp); 4xDu/Sp; 4xPE/Du; 4xBP/Du; 4xEP/BP 30 subjects  naive Methods

  15. Methods • The story told • Tigre (afro-asian) & Hua (indo-pacific) • Task: Y,Z are from the same or from different Ls • Training • 4 sentences of Tigre (EP, Du) • 4 sentences of Hua (BP, Sp) • 2 Y=Z pairs, 2 YZ pairs • both types, with feedback (5pairs; 8 pairs)

  16. EP/BP: results

  17. EP and BP are discriminated F0 is relevant task feasable better results EP, BP and other languages? Du, SP EP/BP: results

  18. Targeting 2 Languages • Is EP like Du (Tigre) or Sp (Hua) or none? • Is BP like Du or Sp or none? • EP • %V  EP  Du, EP = Sp • C  EP = Du, EP  Sp • Both  problem (inconsistent results) • BP • BP  Du, SP?

  19. Targeting 2 Languages: Results

  20. Targeting 2 Languages • Is EP like Du (Tigre) or Sp (Hua) or none? • Is BP like Du or Sp or none? • EP is Hua • %V EP  Du, EP = Sp is not Tigre • C  EP = Du, EP  Sp • Both  problem (inconsistent results) • BP is Hua • BP  Du, SP?

  21. F0 effect

  22. Acoustic evidence EP  BP (%V, C) EP has mixed rhythm stress ( C)&syll.(%V) BP has mixed rhythm syll.( C)&mora (%V) No problem to the rhythm class hypothesis Test the perceptual weighting of %V and C Perceptual evidence EP  BP (62.9%) F0 is relevant (46.7%) EP, BP, Stress-timed L Syllable-timed L EP  Du (64.3%) %V takes the lead EP BP Conclusion

  23. EP and BP Rhythm:Acoustic and Perceptual Evidence Sónia Frota Universidade de Lisboa Marina Vigário, Fernando Martins Thanks to F.Ramus, L.Wetzels, T.Rietveld, G.Elordieta

More Related